Monday 31 October 2011

Preventing daylight robbery

Today started well with a very efficient and upbeat management meeting with Duncan and Mary. Unfortunately things took a turn for the worse shortly after our meeting finished when Mary told me that our building contractor had experienced a problem at the bank – again.

Our building work is currently making great progress and should be completed on time. The classroom block and visitors’ centre are really taking shape now and we should see the roof timbers going up this week. So far so good.

I wish the same could be said of the arrangements that we have made to pay for this work as it goes on. We have drawn up an agreed payment schedule with the contractor responsible for the building work. Each time a particular milestone is reached a payment is triggered. Paying by cheque is the most convenient method of payment for the work, but I am beginning to wonder if this was actually a wise decision. The contractor has now been unable to claim payment on two cheques that we have given him. It is very frustrating.

Kenya is infamous for corruption and financial mismanagement. To be fair to Kenya it is not the only country in the world that suffers from significant ‘transparency’ problems. The problems we have experienced making payments to the contractor are a result of genuine efforts to reduce fraud and forgery in Kenya but they do make doing business difficult. Our most recent problem, (today), was caused by a regulation made by the banking authorities in Kenya, capping the maximum value that can be written on a cheque at one million shillings. At the current exchange rate that’s about £6,300 or $10,000. The cheque, which I wrote to the contractor, was for slightly more than a million shillings so he was unable to pay it into his account. This resulted in a hurriedly arranged meeting with him this morning at our bank in Kisii to make a direct transfer of funds to his account. The contractor was very reasonable about it all and the transfer was eventually made. Looking at the whole experience in a positive light we have learned another valuable lesson in transacting business in Kenya and won’t get caught out again. I always appreciate the small lessons in humility that I benefit from when dealing with official policy – especially in the banking sector. I also enjoyed a bonus back massage courtesy of the bumpy roads between our place and the bank so I guess I shouldn’t complain.

On the other hand I do sometimes wonder how the average Kenyan can be expected to climb the ladder to financial success and security when the support structures available to him or her are so shaky. It makes me more determined than ever to make sure the children that are growing up in our care are prepared for every eventuality – including the mind mangling, patience pummelling, sanity sapping idiosyncrasies of the banking system.

1 comment:

  1. I hope I shall recall this blog entry next time I am irritated with my bank for some minor inconvenience!

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